Improvement in the construction of burglar-proof safes



SEMS, BANK PE'IEEETEGN ANU EELTEU DEI/KEES.

Search tecar RUSSELL A. BALLOU, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION 0F BURGLAR-PROOF SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 86,1193, dated February 2, 1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, RUSSELL A. BALLoU, of Boston, in county ot' Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burglar-Proof Safe-Walls; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a section at right angles to the plane of the wall through the line x x of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a face view of the wires or cylinders in place, the superimposed plates being removed to show them. Fig. 3 is a section of a safe-wall in which a double row of wires or cylinders is employed. Y

The same letter indicates the same part wherever it occurs.

The nature of the invention consists in the introduction into or between the plates composing the walls of safes, for the purpose of protecting them more eii'ectually against burgla-rs7 tools, ot' one or more series of wires or cylinders, made of iron, steel, or other hard metal, and arranged in one or more layers either parallel or at right angles to each other, said wires or cylinders being either ot equal or unequal diameters, and allowed to turn freely, so that a burglars tool encountering or acting upon them will be broken and disabled, all as hereinafter more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, A, B, C, D, and E marl: plates ot' iron and steel, forming, by their union, the walls of a safe, S S being the screws by which the plates are held together.

The plate D has its inner portion removed, so as to form a recess for the reception of the Wires or cylinders w n, 'zo fo, Ste., or they may be inclosed in a frame of any convenient construction, its office being merely to hold them in place.

The wires or cylinders may be made of iron, steel, or other hard metal. I prefer to make every other one of steel, the alternate ones being made of sott iron. This alternate arrangement is indicated in the drawing, the steel -wires being marked 'w and the iron wires c.

When two layers of wires are used, as represented in Fig. 3, I place a steel wire over an iron one, and keep up the alternation in both directions. I propose, also, to use wires or cylinders of different sizes, placing the larger and smaller ones alternately, whether in one or a greater number of layers. These arrangements may be varied according to the character and costliness ofthe safe without affecting the principle of the invention. I have contemplated, when more than one layer is used, placing the layers at right angles to each other, or at any other angle that may be preferred.

I am aware that hollow metallic tubes and ordinary gas-pipes have been embedded in the solid cast-iron walls of safes, and that metallic rods have been driven into or placed in such tubes, or molten iron or steel poured into them after being thus embedded. Such an arrangement I disclaim, as I do not embed my wires or cylinders in the safe-walls, but place them loosely in spaces or recesses provided for them between the plates formin the safewalls, as described and shown.

Having thus fully described my invention, I wish it understood that I do not limit inyself to any particular number of layers, or to any specilic order of arrangement ofthe wires, or to any material as composing them; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, ism

Introducing into or between the plates composing the walls of a safe one or more series of wires or solid metallic cylinders, arranged in one or more layers, either parallel or at an angle to each other, said wires being either equal or unequal in diameter, and free to turn on their longitudinal axes, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

The above specification of my said invention si gned and witnessed at Washington this 14th day of November, A. D. 1868.

RUSSELL A. BALLOU.

Witnesses F. W. HOWARD, Cans. F. STANsBURY. 

